The Berry of Sri Lanka

Kirk has coined this term for the fort area of Galle.  I think he is exaggerating but there are quite a few chi chi shops.  At least there are plenty of coffee shops making him an espresso so he can't complain.
We took a lovely walk along the ramparts of the fort today - the fort walls protected the fort area from the tsunami in 2004.

Galle

We caught the train down the west coast from Colombo to Galle this morning.
Given that we managed to negotiate India without public transport, this was our first foray on public transport in Sri Lanka.
Although the train allegedly originated at Colombo fort station where we were getting on, the locals obviously knew to jump on board earlier to get a seat.
Therefore when the train arrived it was already packed.  We did mange to get a seat after an hour and it was a very pleasant journey along the coast.
We are staying in the fort area of Galle which has lots of pretty Dutch colonial buildings.

Colombo

We arrived in Colombo yesterday.  We have never seen so many duty free stores selling white goods when arriving at Colombo airport.  We resisted the temptation to buy a fridge and bought gin instead.
Sri Lanka seems nice so far.  The people are very friendly even though we just beat them in the cricket.
Some sightseeing today then off to Galle tomorrow.

Varkala

Kirk is certainly channelling his inner hippy here.
We are now in Verkala, a beautiful beach with the town on the cliff tops.  Lots of hippy clothes, jewellery and trance music.

Some backwater cruising

Took a houseboat cruise on the Keralan backwaters today.
Looks a bit more like Venice now except with rice paddies and coconut palms.
Not a gondola in sight - just lots of houseboats.

Alleppey - the Venice of the east

We arrived in Alleppey this afternoon.  We are staying in a restored colonial house near the beach.  It doesn't quite look like Venice here as the backwaters are  by definition a bit inland and Venice has fewer coconut palms.  We will do a reconnaissance mission tomorrow to find a nice houseboat.
We caught up with friends Jane and Tony for dinner last night in Fort Cochin - nice to see familiar faces.
The duty free gin is keeping the malaria at bay....

Goats rather than cows

The streets of Fort Cochin appear to have random goats wandering about.  I assumed they would end up on the dinner table.
Did some touring about Cochin today via tuk-tuk.  Went to the Dutch Palace and jewish area (as well as too many handicraft shops).
Off to Alleppey tomorrow.